Book Review: Author follows 'Nice Girls' books with 'See Jane Lead'

I expected a book simply built around 99 bullet points aimed at giving advice for how to become a leader in the workplace. But this book offers a lot more than that. Like her other books, which also include “Nice Girls Don’t Get Rich,” this book offers real-life examples, and self-assessments that readers can use at the end of each chapter.

What’s interesting, though, is that this book has a very different tone than Frankel’s “Nice Girls” books. Frankel notes specifically that in those books, she honed in on 176 mistakes women make in pursuing their professional and financial goals. “See Jane Lead” zeroes in on strategies for unleashing leadership capabilities – many of which women might not recognize in themselves but have gained through their roles as daughters, wives and mothers.

The book is broken into nine chapters, and Frankel’s 99 tips are shared among them. Beyond those tips, however, are multiple bulleted lists of additional tips, along with anecdotal stories from and about influential women, including Mother Teresa and Mary Kay Cosmetics founder Mary Kay Ash.

Clearly, there’s not room here to go through each chapter of this book, which was a fairly quick read, even for 266 pages, plus a suggested reading list.

Early on, Frankel writes, “Too many women, perhaps you included, hesitate to step into the role of leadership for fear of being called too bossy, aggressive, egotistical – or worse yet, the dreaded B-word.” She outlines when it’s OK to play tough, and how leaving behind “the nice girl” can be done most effectively. In the chapter titled “Influencing With (and Without) Authority,” Frankel establishes that throughout history, women have exercised influence, be it through raising children, assisting elderly parents or even something as mundane as convincing an unwilling husband to attend a concert, ballet or play. She compares different styles of leadership and influence, and she offers tips and exercises for learning to mix them.

Among the coaching tips for influencing others:

• Be clear on the front end what you want on the back end. Women, Frankel writes, are not as good as men at expressing what they want, when they want it and how they plan to get it. The key here is knowing what the desired outcome is before assuming the role of a leader and sticking with the plan.

• Combine declarative statements with inclusive taglines. Frankel notes stating desires while seeking others’ opinions can prevent the dreaded B-word from coming into play.

In the chapter “From Cheerleading to Coach: Motivating People to Achieve Their Best,” Frankel notes that women are often better at motivating others than they are at motivating themselves. This chapter dissects the role of relationship building, and Frankel notes that relationships are a necessary part of leadership and effective motivation. Several tips are offered:

• Learn about people’s aspirations by asking those you hope to lead and motivate about their proudest accomplishments and what they still hope to achieve.

• Build a trusting relationship with each member of your team.

• Assess less-than acceptable performance or behaviors in neutral terms – though another tip is to differentiate coaching from discipline, which may be necessary.

Also included are some solid sample dialogues and a coaching effectiveness inventory.

The coaching chapter is followed by “Leading Teams: From the PTA to the Boardroom,” and it covers some coaching basics but focuses on groups rather than individuals. Of particular interest on team leading is what Frankel calls her “rules of the road for team behavior.” Among them, meetings will begin and end on time, all team members are expected to fully participate, each team member is expected to help colleagues achieve their goals, and there are no complaints – all concerns must be accompanied by a solution or a request for help to find one.

There also are exercises and suggestions specific to meeting management, and a team effectiveness survey.

Frankel covers “likability and emotional quotients,” which she calls a woman’s secret weapons. Tips for tapping into these include:

• Lead with questions – especially for women who tend to be critical.

• Exercise the empathy muscle.

• Treat everyone with unconditional positive regard.

• Allow others to save face.

In the “Women as Entrepreneurs: Leading Your Own Enterprise” chapter, Frankel addresses challenges specific to business ownership and offers a 25-question entrepreneurial assessment and score sheet to help women determine whether opening a business is right for them. Among her tips: learn the language of money; expect and prepare for setbacks; and keep an “atta gal” file of positive customer and employee feedback for times when encouragement is needed.

The final chapter of this book was my favorite. “Raising Our Daughters to Lead” steps outside leadership tips that can be applied at work or in the volunteer sector and covers inspiring future generations of female leaders. Perhaps because my daughter started kindergarten this year, this chapter resonated with me. From encouraging team and individual sports for girls to downplaying conflicting social messages, largely in the classroom, this chapter struck a chord with me. Some of Frankel’s tips for encouraging daughters to lead are very simple, such as allowing them to choose their own clothes as an exercise in independence and freedom of expression.

She offers best-parenting suggestions, such as not comparing daughters to their brothers, following daughters’ leadership or initiative when appropriate and, for mothers, modeling the principles we want our daughters to internalize. She also advocates teaching financial independence early and answering questions directly without dumbing them down.

This book has copious material to digest, and it’s worth a read for any woman – as well as men who work with them.

Maria Hoover is features editor of Springfield Business Journal. She may be reached at mhoover@sbj.net.